Forensic Investigators Break Down The Most Disturbing Cases They've Ever Worked On

Forensic investigation isn't easy. Watching dramatized television crime shows and listening to crime podcasts makes the people who are interested in such information, myself amongst them, think that working in forensics would be a fascinating and enviable job...
But when Redditor u/CosmicLlama9908 asked forensic investigators about the most disturbing and horrific cases they've worked on, everyone quickly realized that the field is no joke.
Warning, the following are true stories shared by forensics specialists. They are NSFW, and may contain triggering topics.
20. "I took a police class and..."
"I took a police class and we were shown real pictures of crime scenes from our professor who was a philly detective. One of the most brutal ones we saw was this woman who got mauled by her boyfriends pit bulls in a basement. Her skin was ripped open and there was blood everywhere. Can't imagine the pain she was in, it was nuts."
19. "They rushed him to the hospital..."
"My uncle is a retired Chicago cop. One day, he had a case where a little 5 or 6 year old kid had been offered a small ziplock bag of about 2 grams of crack. The kid must have thought the crack was sugar because when the kid the next morning, the bag was covered in Batman stickers, about 1 gram of the crack was gone, and the parents realized he wasn't breathing. They rushed him to the hospital where the doctor told them that their son died of an overdose."
18. "The only reason the car was investigated..."
"My father worked at our local airport. A girl had decided to commit suicide in the long term parking lot there. She laid down in the trunk and covered herself in whatever was back there after taking an overdose of medication.
She wasn't found for roughly 3 1/2 months. The only reason the car was investigated was because several people complained of an over powering caustic smell. This was mid June or July. Dad said when they popped the lock on the door a cloud of black flies could be seen exiting the vehicle even on the security tape.
When EMTs came to remove what was left of her a few vomited. She was described to me as a gelatinous mass of purple and green. A scraper has to be used to get all the remains."
17. "He always said the worst were..."
"My father was a firefighter for over 30 years and had to investigate causes for some fires.
He always said the worst were the two or three people a year who would smoke while using the nasal oxygen things. It was almost always compounded by them being on a mattress.
He responded to one where the spouse reached in to try and pull them off the bed by the arm but the skin just slid off.
Also apparently the smell of burnt flesh never leaves you."
16. "He came back to her home..."
"I work helping victims of violent crime. I have been doing this on a volunteer and professional basis in various capacities and locations for about ten years now. I have three cases that have given me what we call secondary trauma more than any others...
A woman went on a first date. He came back to her home with a gun and held her and her children hostage for three months. The physical and psychological trauma done to them was the worst I've ever seen."
15. "Where they send the criminally insane..."
"I worked in forensic units, essentially where they send the criminally insane, I didn't see any bodies but worked with the people that created them.
One person was getting a divorce, one parent was using the others mental health (depression, but well managed, worked full time) to gain full custody and they could afford the better lawyer. They drowned all four of their kids at bath time in a psychotic break."
14. "The worst one she told about..."
"My mom was a state police forensic scientist and did the DNA for all sorts of horrific cases. Aside from the countless pedophiles and incest rapes, I think the worst one she told me about was a girl who gave birth in her bedroom, hid the baby in a box under the bed, and her dog proceeded to eat the baby. She didn't tell her parents she was pregnant because they were very religious and she was underage."
13. "A guy embezzled money and got busted for it..."
"We had one where a guy embezzled money from his bank and got busted for it. He tried to kill his family with carbon monoxide from the van but it didnt work. He finally takes a baseball bat and kills his wife and 4 kids, leaves a call to 911, then drives into a bridge support which kills him and lights his van on fire."
12. "This story made national news..."
"I'm not an investigator, but my aunt is a detective for our local police force. This story made national news, but she worked on a case where a mother and her boyfriend were abusing their young daughter. They sexually abused her and would inject her with drugs to put her in a comatose state when she would fight back.
Eventually the mother's boyfriend raped and killed her with the mother's permission and they tried to hide the body by burning it in their bath tub. My aunt has been in the force for over 20 years and she said she's never seen true evil until she interrogated the mother after they were inevitably caught."
11. "When I got there, the remains were..."
"I remember when I was a grad student I was called by my supervisor to help consult on some human skeletal remains that had been discovered on a farm. When I got there the remains were of a child who had been hacked apart with an axe and had teeth impressions from a dog. May not sound terrible, I love my job, but children are for me the hardest to work on."
10. "He was reported to be seen on the ground..."
"15 year old decided to commit suicide on the freeway. It's still not 100% clear if he jumped off the overpass first, but he was reported to be seen on the ground on the freeway by the first person who called it in...who was also the 3rd car to hit him in a matter of minutes."
9. "He asks where the baby is..."
"EMT. Get dispatched for vaginal bleeding. Arrive at the home to find a woman sitting in a pool of blood on her bedroom floor. Transport her to the hospital where the doc examines her. He asks where the baby is. What? He states this woman just had a baby. So they go back to the home with police and search the place. My coworker looks under the bed and sees a bowling ball bag. Opens the bag and finds the dead baby."
8. "I'm an expert in work related incidents..."
"I'm an expert in work related incidents, and am hired to investigate accidents and incidents for large cooperations.
Two children fell down an elevator shaft on a building project.
Employee of manufacturer in the Pharmaceutical industry got his arm ripped off by a powder centrifuge.
Retired person was fatally hit by the coupling of a compressed air-hose after the hose broke."
7. "Started 'speaking to god'..."
"I do fire investigation and one that stuck with me was a likely mentally disturbed girl started 'speaking to god' at the dinner table and then that night lit her room on fire with her in it. I think about that one a lot"
6. "The worst part was..."
"Gotta be the guy that stabbed his newborn and 4 year old before slitting his throat and jabbing the knife into his chest. The worst part was his phone on the bed with numerous texts from his fiancee and mom begging him to not harm the children."
5. "That's up there for me..."
"A man decapitated his infant son with a samurai sword while high on PCP.
That's up there for me."
4. "Frantic scratch marks indicated they regretted the action..."
"Client committed suicide by connecting zip ties around neck and pulling. Frantic scratch marks indicated they regretted the action but could not cut the zip ties due to sharps restriction. Sharps restriction enforced due to recent morbid self mutilation.
Claw marks on neck and lack of oxygen to the brain was the saddest ive ever seen. The inability to say the individual died on their own terms is often the only bright side to any type of suicide i deal with."
3. "He was feeding her rocks..."
"Had a paranoid schizophrenic male who forced his elderly mother to eat rocks to the point where she died. He told Police that he was feeding her rocks to weigh her down so God couldn't take her yet."
2. "Cooked him like a stew..."
"A mildly over weight man had a heart attack and died on his waterbed, it broke and the sun heated the water (this is Arizona by the way) and cooked him like a stew"
1. "It turned into a homicide..."
"Children's Protective Services worker here. We do forensic interviewing during our investigation so I'm counting myself in. I watched the autopsy of a two month old infant with suspected CoD of asphyxiation from regurgitating too much milk from being overfed. Turned into a homicide as they peeled back the infant's scalp to reveal a massive skull fracture and brain bleed from sharp blunt force trauma..."
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Everyone has their travel bucket list.
The list of places they absolutely must visit before they die.
There are those, however, who also have a rather different list of destinations.
The places that have no intention to visit.
Be it for safety concerns, language barriers, or simply that there's nothing at these places that calls to them, there are places some wouldn’t dream of spending the time and money to visit.
Redditor TrooperJohn was curious to hear which places were at the very bottom of the list of travel destinations for his fellow Redditors, leading them to ask:
"What is a popular tourist destination you have no interest in visiting?"
Oasis in the desert? No thank you.
"Dubai."
"Why and whats special about it?"
"Its a modern city in a desert."- Maximum_Calendar_791.
"Dubai."
"A fake city with fake people, no human rights, where the world's tallest buildings hide corruption and slavery in their shadows."
"It's like someone decided to take every problem of mankind and concentrate it in one spot."- PayNoNoticeOfMe.
"Dubai one i think it is ugly two I would die in two minutes of me being there I can't stand anything above 40 c°."- BookWormPerson.
One of the seven wonders is one too many for me.
"The pyramids. "
"Too many horror stories of Egypt."- Aemiom.
Landlocked.
"Not really a destination, but taking a cruise."- Shortbus_Playboy.
Mountains aren't really my thing.
"Everest."
"Just why."
"You use a bunch of money to get in there them come down."
"And trash your whole way there. It's literally a corner in the Earth insufferable for humans and we still made a way to go there to trash it."- ACLullaby.
It's in my own backyard... but still not interested.
"I have lived about 15km away from the Burj Khalifa ever since it was made."
"I could not care any less besides the occasional pointing out the 'shiny tall building' to my nieces.- legolosss.
The pictures are enough for me.
"Mount Rushmore."
"Friends who've made the journey to Mount Rushmore mostly say it was no big deal and not worth the effort or expense to travel there."- Back2Bach.
Hustle and Bustle? No thanks.
"Anything busy.'
"Whether it's cities, structures, I don't care."
"I'd rather go to a boring empty quiet place than a place full of people."- TheSmeep.
They're watching us.
"That creepy a** place in Japan with all the realistic dolls."
"No thank you."
Some dream of paying a visit to these places.
Others hope they never have to set foot there, and will choose to leave it to the other millions of tourists.
To each, their own.
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When it comes to electing a leader, the choice is an easy one if a potential candidate shares the same values as yours.
And while a candidate is fit to lead remains to be seen, we rely on our instinct to choose someone with whom we can relate.
But sometimes, our options are limited and we inevitably go with someone who is the lesser of two evils.
Curious to hear from strangers online about a hypothetical, Redditor Cashmeresquid2309 asked:
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for an openly Atheist presidential candidate? Why or why not?"

Redditors were quick to point out the answer was a no-brainer.
We Already Know The Answer
"Asking Reddit if they'd vote for an atheist..."
"I feel like the answer would be obvious."
– sarahmagoo
Sci-Fi Analogy
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for a Star Wars fan who heckin loves doggos?"
– WitnessChemical
For The Atheists In The Crowd
"Atheists of atheistville, would you vote for an open atheist?"
– nixcamic
Others weighed in with a range of opinions.
About 45
"What's funny is how many of them would probably say no, even though they voted for Trump and would do so again. Say whatever else you want about him, but I seriously can't understand how anyone could genuinely believe Trump is a Christian. He's so obviously faking it and is undoubtedly the most atheistic president we've ever had or are likely to have for a long time."
"This is a guy who's never even so much as read the Bible or attended church, who told a conservative radio host his favorite Bible verse was 'an eye for an eye', who told evangelical interviewers that he's never asked God for forgiveness because he's never done anything wrong, and who routinely commits all 7 deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth) without remorse."
– empfindsamkeit
From A Different Perspective
"Not an american but interestingly according to this survey on 1006 people from 2007, being atheist was the worst thing you could be as a candidate (of the things asked) with only 45 % of people saying they'd vote for one."
– ilovecatfish
An atheist candidate isn't necessarily a big strike.
Double Negative
"I wouldn’t not vote for someone just because they were atheist."
– HabitualEnthusiast
Credibility First
"This is it. If they’re running on platforms I support with a history to back up those campaign promises, I don’t care if they belong to the church of the flying spaghetti monster. They could literally be a member of the satanic temple and I, an actual practicing Christian, would give less shi*s than a constipated sloth."
"Edit: yes, I realize the Satanic Temple does not actually worship satan. I used it for that purpose. The Church of Satan has some…problematic views and I probably would not vote for someone who literally holds a platform of eugenics."
– Phoenix_of_Asclepius
Some view the role of religion in politics as important.
It Depends
"Religion can be relevant: I would have strong reservations about voting for a Scientologist, even if I agreed with the policies they proposed. I would have strong reservations voting for a member of an apocalyptic cult or, possibly worse, a follower of the (highly heretical) 'prosperity gospel,' which unfortunately includes more and more so-called 'evangelicals' — I didn't vote for George W. Bush, but it's not because he was an evangelical."
"It depends on the role: I'd probably be more flexible with a legislator than an executive (mayor, governor, president), as their character is IMO more important than for a legislator and their policy stances somewhat less important relative to a legislator."
"Satanic temple — well, that's just an organized group of atheists and humanists with an intentionally inflammatory choice of name. They're generally fine people."
– alyssasaccount
A Bad Rap
"The Satanic Temple is an excellent organization that every decent person should be able to respect. A Church of Satan member, not so much."
"There's a huge difference between them!"
– StarsEatArtBooks
And Redditor boganvegan said it best.
"Better an open atheist than a fake Christian."
It all boils down to trustworthiness. Without full transparency, how could anyone put their faith in a candidate who spews nothing but lies?
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Being home alone isn't always the most tranquil thing.
No one is there to help or protect you.
And things that go "bump" in the night... sometimes they do more than bump.
Redditor ag9910 wanted to hear about the times home felt like an unsafe place to be. They asked:
"What is the scariest, strangest, most unexplainable thing that has happened to you while home alone?"
I'm always freaked out when I'm home alone. Lights on. Yeah, my electric bill is high.
Dorothy?
"I dreamed the front door blew open at the exact time the house alarm went off... I hopped up and sure enough, the front door was open. No intruder."
fatowl
I See You
"Not home alone but only one in right side of the house. Went to my mom's bathroom to wash my hands and saw a pair of feet behind the half open door. Laughed and said 'very funny Ma, I see you.' then finished up and left. Bumped into my mother in the kitchen unpacking, nobody else was in the house. I'm glad whatever was behind the door didn't peek out."
SatanWithFur
“It’s Doug!”
"One night I had forgotten to lock my apartment door and woke up in the middle of the night. My bedroom door was about 2 feet from my front door, as you walked into the apartment. First a big dog ran by, then a person. Holy crap I was so scared and I screeched 'Who is it?!?!!'"
"A man said 'It’s Doug!' As I was thinking to myself, who the f**k is Doug, he said 'oh, crap.' He turned around to go back out the front door saying 'Sorry.' I asked 'Didn’t you have a dog with you?' He said 'Oh, yeah. Hey, c’mon!.' He left, his dog ran out after him and I locked my front door."
"Edit: glad you all thought this was funny, because I did too, once my heart quit trying to beat right out of my chest! The next day the girls at work thought I was crazy for not being upset, but eh, done is done. Peace!"
scarletohairy
Confused...
"My sister and I were home alone and we heard someone big running up the stairs. The stairs make lots of noise with slight pressure so when there’s someone big on them you can tell. I went out of my room to check but saw no one anywhere and my sister also came out of her room and she asked if that was me I said no and we both looked around to see if there was anyone but found no one in the whole house. We were confused and called our parents and just waited until they got back and that was that."
JtSudbury04
I See You
"I very clearly saw a guy walk into my room. But when I went after him there was nobody there. I checked in the closet, under my bed, everywhere one could hide in my room."
HighlyOffensive10
This is why home video surveillance is key.
"NO"
"My parents were on a road trip, just left, and I sat down at my desk. I thought 'Weekend alone by myself' and a voice yelled into my right ear 'NO' so loud it hurt."
Th4ab
Wild
"I managed to lock myself out of my house on my birthday during a tornado while trying to bring my cats to the basement for safety. I later found out that the tornado was approximately a couple miles or less from me at that exact time. The sky was green and it got weirdly calm and then I could hear what sounded like a train coming before I found an unlocked window to climb through. Wild times."
SilverGnarwhal
Saturday morning in the 80s...
"I wasn't home alone but I was awake by myself one Saturday morning in the 80s when I was around 7 or so. I believe my mom was the only one home because my dad went to the lake to go fishing that weekend, and I'm not sure where my older brothers were, maybe they went with him, idk."
"Anyways, my mom's sleeping in, and I'm in the living room by myself, watching Saturday morning cartoons and making a fort out of sheets and cushions. Something made me turn around and I saw my dad in his pajamas standing in the hallway entrance with his hands on his hips, looking the mess I was making and shaking his head."
"He then turned around and walked into my room, which was just off the hallway entrance. Dude. I didn't even look, I just booked it to my parents room and woke my mom up. I don't remember what happened after that, this was around 35 years ago. And yes, my dad was fine, nothing had happened to him."
smriversong
Get the Bat...
"I was at home by myself on a call with some friends when all of a sudden my dog begins to bark like crazy, which was odd since it was the middle of the night and he's usually sleep. I go downstairs to check on him and find him barking at our hall closet, terrified I grabbed my bat that I keep in my room just in case and open the door. There was nothing out of usual at first at then I look down and notice a familiar looking object at the bottom of the closet."
"It was my mom's necklace she had lost when I was 9, (i'm 15 now just to put in perspective how long it's been). I showed it to my mom at breakfast and she was just as shocked as I was. I still have no clue how it got there or how my dog knew it was in there, definitely one of the oddest occurrences of my life."
SomeRandomIdiot14
Meow
"Many years ago, I was 14 or so, my first night alone in the house when my parents were out. Lying on the living room floor reading, my cat sleeping next to me."
"Suddenly, cat wakes up, stares intently into the dark corner of the room behind me, hair on end, growls and then bolts out of the room and upstairs. I look behind me and see nothing, but follow cat upstairs and hide under the covers. Freaked me out."
LairdofWingHaven
Thank God for alarms. I hate being home alone.
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The human body is still such a mystery.
How much do we really know?
Not a lot apparently. We're learning more all the time.
And most of it is gross.
Redditor BathNo7713 wanted to discuss the ick factor of anatomy. So they asked:
"What is the most disturbing fact about the human body?"
The body freaks me out. But it's all I've got. So teach me some things.
Minutes...
"The fastest killing virus takes around 4 days to kill you. That would be Ebola. Your immune system can kill you in 15 minutes."
will477
'locked-in'
"If your brainstem (the part of the brain that mediates most motor control for all of the body) is damaged, you can get 'locked-in' syndrome. That means you're fully conscious and aware of your surroundings but unable to move or speak. The only muscles that remain unaffected in most people are the muscles that move they eyes and the eyelids."
"You're essentially trapped within your own body with your only way of communication being blinking or moving your eyes It can be caused by toxins, blockage of the basilar artery which is the main artery of the brainstem, or other brainstem damage."
4oodler
Explosions
"Some people suffer from Exploding Head Syndrome, which causes them to hear a loud bang when they wake up."
ToraMix19
"When I was younger I believe I experienced this a few times. Sounds I heard were: about a million people talking and laughing all at once, a train that irl would've been about a foot away from me based on the volume of the sound, and a door slamming loudly."
aliaisacreature
Pain
"Not sure if this is by design, but I totaled my car once, almost completely uninjured somehow. Then I looked down to my right hand which I remember jabbing into my dashboard at 55mph. Luckily (unluckily?) only my pinky took the blow. But instead of a floppy-udder full of bone-sand, my pinky was 0.5 inches long."
"Broke no bones, but instead perfectly stacked my phalanges, or finger bones, INTO my hand. This is fixed by a muscular Russian murse grabbing your pinky with both hands and pulling very hard. God I wish they gave me more lidocaine."
TelevisionOlympics
Functions
"If you have a surgery where they need to move your organs around they might not function for a day as the body assumes that they are dead."
tonythebutcher13
Move things around? You mean that's not fake when it happens on "Grey's Anatomy?"
"The only reason you are not aware of it is because the ambient noise kind of drowns it out because your ears focus on it. If you go to one of those super-silent rooms that absorb all sorts of sounds, it is a really weird way to reacquaint yourself with your body."
Black_Handkerchief
The Mouth
"Idk about the most disturbing but how bad human teeth are. We’d think it’s our sugary and processed diets these days that cause it, but even Otzi the iceman discovered in Italy was found to have terrible teeth, mouth diseases and cavities. It’s odd that even with the most basic of diets our teeth are so bad."
Dorianisconfused
In the bowels...
"I noticed this after my abdominal surgery. When I turned over in bed my guts seemed to fall from one side to the other. Mentioned to my doc and she confirmed it was my bowels rearranging themselves."
squatter_
"Apparently the doctor just throws your intestines back in there higgeldy-piggeldy because there isn't a correct way to pack them neatly."
LostDesigner9
A Quick Burst
"There are a vast number of ways that your body can malfunction and kill you with little or no warning. An aneurysm can go undetected until it bursts and kills you. Getting hit in the chest just the right way can stop your heart. You can encounter an allergen that never previously provoked an immune response that freaks out your body so badly that you die. You literally just never know if your body will just... die."
Unsolicited_Spiders
The body is such a conundrum. Sexy and gross all at once.
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